9HD is an Australian television channel, owned by Nine Entertainment Co., originally launched on 1 January 2001. The channel is available on high definitiondigital television viewers in metropolitan and regional areas through a number of owned-and-operated and affiliate stations. Originally 9HD only simulcast blocks of programming from the Nine Network, and in 2008 it added time-shifted news, movies, drama and entertainment programs.[1] Following the launch of GO! in August 2009, 9HD reverted to a HD simulcast of the Nine Network.[2] The channel was replaced completely in 2010 and the space occupied by the newly launched multichannel GEM. Following the government's decision to remove the SD Primary Channel limitations, the channel returned as a HD simulcast on channel 90 on 26 November 2015.[3]

Contents

History

The beginning

Digital broadcasting proposals in the 1990s always envisioned[4] a high-definition service for each network, and to that end, Nine Network was allocated its own entire DVB-T multiplex. However, late amendments to the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 added a mandate for simulcasting in standard definition, while still promoting high definition through the use of a quota in 2003, requiring a minimum number of hours of native HDTV content.

From the launch of digital TV on 01/01/01, 9HD was heavily simulcasting Nine's standard definition content upconverted to HD. From 2002, this was interspersed with a loop of high definition demonstration material during business hours, for viewing in the showrooms of television retailers, at the conclusion of an equivalent service by Network Ten.

2002 saw the first revenue-generating broadcast in native HD in Australia, with the drama Judging Amy.[5] Nine increased its native HD output in the lead-up to the commencement of the HD quota on July 1, 2003, from which point it broadcast a minimum of 1,040 hours of native HD content per year. The largest portion of this was The Today Show.

Although originally expected to be the first free-to-aircommercial television channel introduced to metropolitan areas since 1988,[7] the surprise launch of rival Seven HD, on 15 October 2007, one month before transmissions were scheduled to begin[8] meant that 9HD was not the first high definition multichannel in Australia. Following this, plans for a November launch in 2007 were postponed until 2008. On 10 March 2008, PBL Media announced that it would launch the channel on 17 March 2008 at 10:30pm, with its first program, Nightline.[1][9]

Full simulcast and launch of GEM

All 9HD breakaway programming ceased transmission on Sunday 2 August 2009[2] in preparation for the launch of GO! (now 9GO!) on 9 August. As a result, the Nine Network HD channel once again became a full simulcast of Nine's main channel.

9HD was replaced by the GEM (now 9Gem) multichannel on 26 September 2010, which unlike the previous incarnation, was a full-time breakaway and branded separately (with one exception being the London Olympics). This removed the HD simulcast of Channel Nine entirely to allow a third channel to fit on Nine's DVB-T multiplex (due to technical and regulatory limitations). As a result, Nine lost all youth, news and comedy content in HD, but instead screened female, crime and lifestyle content on its only HD facility.

For the purposes of some sport such as cricket, GEM was still used on an occasional basis to broadcast HD under the Wide World of Sports brand, though not necessarily as a simulcast with Nine. As such, this was generally limited to events outside of prime time, while those with more prominence continued to be shown on the Nine Network.

2015 relaunch

On 26 November 2015, Nine recommenced simulcasting in HD on channel 90.[11] As a result, 9Gem was moved to channel 92 and reduced to standard definition.[3]

This relaunch marked 9HD's switch to H.264 MPEG-4 broadcasting, allowing the broadcaster to operate at full quality in 1920x1080i50 resolution using a lower bitrate than in 2007. This gives the network the ability to provide all the other multichannel services launched since 2009, such as 9Go!, at the same time.[citation needed]

Programming

Other than during the 2008-2010 period of 9HD as a breakaway service, the channel has been a broadcast of simulcast content from Nine's main channel 'Nine' in high definition. However, in the 2008-2010 period, exclusive breakaway programming was broadcast for several hours a day, usually from 10.30pm til around 2am the next morning most nights of the week. During other hours, 9HD remained a simulcast of Nine.

In May 2009, in addition to late night breakaways, 9HD marked changes to its daytime schedule with the addition of breakaway programs between 11am and 4.30pm. The new-look daytime schedule featured Seinfeld, a midday movie and repeats of Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie.

Upon the November 26 relaunch, 9HD will initially cover all metropolitan stations of the network, as well as the Darwin station. Regional affiliates NBN, WIN, Southern Cross in Spencer Gulf & Broken Hill, and Imparja will relaunch 9HD at a later date.

Identity

Originally the logo was only displayed in place of the standard Nine Network logo when native HD programming replaced upscaled material, and switched from "HDTV" to "HIGH DEFINITION" in 2003. When the network dropped the dots from their logo, a more custom design was deployed. When 9HD's breakaway service was launched in 2008, the logo became a permanent fixture even on upscaled material, and used the Nine Network's nine dot logo with "HD" in a circle beside the numeral 9. The on-air look featured a dark look inside one of the 3D discs used in the 2008 logo. The slogan accompanying 9HD promotions was "You're Watching 9HD", which was replaced by "Welcome Home", the same slogan as the primary channel, after breakaway programming ceased on 2 August 2009. An updated logo introduced when broadcast recommences on 26 November 2015, accompanied by the slogan "Crystal Clear".